Mechanical sweepers, especially for roadways, are well known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,125,128; 4,701,969; 4,602,400; 4,393,537; 3,808,632; 3,535,731 and 3,284,831, as well as commercial units built for example by Elgin Sweeper Company. Typical of this type of mechanical sweeper are cylindrical rotary sweepers mounted at the rear of a vehicle. Such rear-mounted rotary sweepers require a sweeper cover in order to facilitate the movement of swept material upward into the storage area of the sweeping system and also to prevent any swept material from being discharged outward from the mechanical sweeper.
Such sweeper covers are presently constructed of metals including steel, steel alloys or aluminum. The typical lifetime of such metal sweeper covers are 80 to 160 hours. After such period of use, the frictional and corrosive wear caused by the inter-action between the sweeper brush and the sweeper cover causes the metal cover to wear down and become unusable. At this point in time, the sweeper cover must be replaced.
Because of the expense involved in replacing metal sweeper covers, efforts have been undertaken to increase the useful life of such covers. Such attempts have involved flame-treating steel sweeper covers in an attempt to harden the covers and lengthen their useful lives. Such flame-treatment has not resulted in any appreciable benefit, however.
Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide a semi-rigid sweeper cover which is capable of a substantially longer lifetime use than the present metal sweeper covers, in the approximate range of 1,000 hours.